Local and federal law enforcement agencies arrested a Casper doctor and his wife without incident Wednesday for a prescription drug conspiracy that extended to at least four other states.

Dr. Shakeel and Lyn Kahn were arrested at their home on Thorndike Avenue by Casper Police officers and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. They are tentatively charged with conspiracy to dispense controlled substances outside the scope of normal medical practice.

They will hear the specific charge or charges against them during their initial appearances in federal court probably within the next week, according to sources close to the case.

They are being held at the Natrona County Detention Center.

Two weeks ago, local and federal law enforcement officers executed search warrants at Kahn's house and at his office at 301 S. Fenway.

The sign outside the office building does not list him as a tenant, but his office door has a plaque stating he specializes in "pain management." Lyn Kahn is his business manager.

The case started in April when the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy asked the DEA to investigate Kahn, who was issuing large prescriptions for controlled substances under two DEA licenses in Arizona and Wyoming.

Meanwhile, the DEA office in Phoenix opened an investigation into Kahn's prescriptions of hydrocodone and oxycodone.

Tuesday, the Wyoming State Board of Medicine suspended Kahn's medical license for prescribing controlled substances outside the standard of care. The Arizona Board of Medicine suspended his license for similar reasons on Aug. 5.

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are powerful narcotics used in pain management. They are highly addictive. The street value of oxycodone, for example, ranges from $1 to $1.80 per milligram. Kahn wrote numerous oxycodone prescriptions for up to 300 tablets of 30mg.

A review of Kahn's prescription profile showed he was filling prescriptions for unusually high amounts of controlled substances in Wyoming, Arizona, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Washington, according to an affidavit filed in federal court by a DEA agent.

For example, two patients living at the same address with the same kind of therapy were receiving 30-day supplies of oxycodone from prescriptions in Wyoming and then two weeks later would receive 30-day supplies of the same drug under Kahn's DEA registration in Arizona, according to the affidavit.

"This behavior is repeated for multiple months, thus doubling the amount of Oxycodone prescribed from a 30-day supply to a 60-day supply," the affidavit reads.

The DEA agent also found some patients were getting their prescriptions up to 20 days early, and these and other practices indicated Kahn was providing them with controlled substances in a way to avoid detection by regulatory and law enforcement agencies.

"This behavior constitutes probable cause to believe that Kahn is not prescribing controlled substances for a legitimate medical purpose and such behavior is outside the usual course of his professional practice," according to the affidavit.